Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) are call centers responsible for answering calls to an emergency telephone number for police, firefighting, ambulance, and other public-safety-related services. Most utilize existing telephony infrastructure, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or public switched data network (PSDN) to receive information from callers regarding a crime, medical emergency, fire, or other public-safety-related event in progress. Such infrastructure typically supports only voice communications between callers and operators, which can make it difficult for a PSAP operator to quickly and accurately assess the nature of an event and its location, and to maintain constant situational awareness throughout the dispatch of and response by public safety responders.
Efforts have been made to develop solutions for providing PSAPs with additional sources of information beyond mere voice communications from a caller. One existing approach, as shown in FIG. 1, utilizes the automated secure alarm protocol (ASAP) to process and send information from alarm monitoring stations to PSAPs. The ASAP protocol is a direct link from a Central Station Computer to a computer at the PSAP dispatch center which allows the PSAP computer to receive and process data independent of verbal data communication between a caller and PSAP dispatcher. The information goes directly into the computer aided dispatch (CAD) system, and then the dispatcher sends the information to responding units by radio or laptop computer. PSAPs must choose to integrate the ASAP protocol into their legacy systems, and as of today, less than 1% of PSAPs have participated. Another existing approach, as shown in FIG. 2, is a native 9-1-1 telematic method that sends automated location information (ANI) and automated number identification (ANI) from a device (e.g., an Onstar® system in a vehicle) to a PSAP via a 9-1-1 trunk line in parallel with traditional voice communications between the caller and operator. Yet another approach, which is not expected to complete development for another 8 to 10 years, is the NG911 i3 Method, envisions full end-to-end Internet Protocol (IP) to deliver data information to PSAPs.
These and other solutions suffer from a number of disadvantages. Of the approximately 6000 PSAPs in the United States, most are operated independent of one another by local governments. Accordingly, many PSAPs utilize dissimilar technological infrastructures for receiving calls, dispatching public safety responders, and sharing relevant information public safety responders and other agencies. Further, many PSAPs have varying policies regarding whether and what kinds of relevant information they will accept from callers and devices in addition to typical voice communications. This lack of standardization across PSAPs makes it very difficult to develop third party software solutions for effectively and efficiently interfacing with a broad spectrum of PSAPs.
Further, many PSAP's have traditionally been reluctant to begin accepting enhanced location and profile data into their PSAP due to the overwhelming number of potential providers and the need for the 911 operators to have to learn the individual nuances and log-ins criteria for accessing each system. The traditional thinking is ‘to be fair, if you allow for one, you must allow for all,’ and therefore the flood gates remain closed as much as possible, with notable exceptions such as bank robbery response devices, which typically require a dedicated computer provided to a law enforcement agency and requiring specific training for each dispatcher.
Still further, none provide for leveraging the plethora of information available from mobile devices being carried or worn by most people today, such as smartphones and wearables. Integrated cameras, GNSS/GPS locators, accelerometers, health monitors, and other technologies within these mobile devices could provide large amounts of relevant information for enhancing situational awareness of PSAP operators.
In addition to PSAP's, other agencies often suffer from similar issues. For example, federal, state, and local public safety agencies (e.g., law enforcement, EMS, fire departments, etc.) may each utilize different infrastructure for the intake, management, and dissemination of information to responding units and other agencies. Similar issues also exist with private agencies, such as security and healthcare monitoring services, as most utilize varying infrastructure, both in terms of intake and forwarding of event information to PSAPs and other public safety agencies, as well as to other private agencies.
In light of these issues, it would be desirable to provide a standardized interface between PSAPs and callers for sharing additional information from mobile devices and other sources to assist with enhancing situational awareness during event response.